North Korea threatens nuclear war in run-up to US-South Korea war games

North Korea has ratcheted up its rhetoric against its southern neighbour and
the States in the run up to Foal Eagle, an annual war game between the US
and South Korea

U.S. and South Korean Army soldiers cross Nam Han river in May 2013 during a joint military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea in Yeoncheon near the border with North KoreaPhoto: AHN YOUNG-JOON/AP

By Associated Press, Seoul, South Korea

3:38PM GMT 29 Jan 2014

North Korea is threatening nuclear war in the run up to scheduled, soon-to-start, joint military maneuvers between the US and South Korea.

North Korea's increasingly shrill opposition to the annual joint drills named Foal Eagle looks very similar to the kind of vitriol that preceded the start of the same exercises last year and led to a steep rise in tensions on the Korean Peninsula. That round of escalation culminated in threats of a nuclear strike on Washington and the flattening of Seoul before the maneuvers ended and both sides went back to their corners.

It appears the first stages of this year's battle have already begun - though some experts say they don't think it will be as high-pitched as last year's.

In the latest of North Korea's increasingly frequent salvos against the exercises, it said through its state-run media that the United States is building up its military forces in Asia so it can invade the country - formally called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK - and take control of the whole region.

The invectives against the exercises began earlier this month, when North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission proposed the rivals halt military actions and "mutual vilification" to build better relations. The North, however, strongly hinted it would maintain its nuclear weapons program while urging South Korea to cancel the drills with the United States, set to begin in late February.

North Korea's ambassador to key ally China offered a somewhat less caustic line at a rare news conference on Wednesday. Ji Jae Ryong told international media that North Korea wants to reduce tensions to allow steps toward reconciliation and eventual unification between North and South.

"First, we propose taking preparatory measures in response to the warm call for creating an atmosphere for improving North-South ties. In this regard, we officially propose the South Korean authorities take critical measures of halting acts of provoking and slandering the other side from Jan. 30," Mr Ji said.

But Mr Ji reiterated that North Korea had no intention of abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

Seoul-based analyst Daniel Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group, said that although some experts saw the proposal as an overture or part of a "charm offensive" by North Korea, it was intended more as a means of setting the stage for more heated actions ahead - since the North has no reason to expect that Washington and Seoul would seriously consider nixing Foal Eagle.

"It feeds into the propaganda cycle again," he said. "It's a way of showing the domestic audience that, 'we made a serious overture. We tried to bend over backwards. But they showed their true colours.' I don't see any cooperative measures or charm offensive at all."

Seoul and Washington have essentially ignored North Korea's proposal.

Seoul instead demanded that North Korea take "practical" action for nuclear disarmament if it truly wants peace on the peninsula. But Seoul has proposed working-level talks on Wednesday to discuss allowing Koreans separated by the 1950-53 Korean War to reunite. North Korea didn't immediately respond to Seoul's proposals.

The fighting between North and South Korea ended six decades ago with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically in a state of war. North Korea remains highly sensitive to all military activity in the South, and sees Seoul as a puppet state because nearly 30,000 U.S. troops are based on its soil.

This year's drills, in which troops will train on land, sea and in the air, are expected to last until about April.

Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korea studies at Korea University in South Korea, said he doesn't expect as much tension as last year.

"North Korea is maintaining its nuclear weapons program but hasn't launched any fresh provocation, so this year's drills would be more like the routine ones they conducted in previous years," he said.